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The Foreign Labor Certification program qualifies an employer to hire foreign workers if an employer cannot find qualified and available U.S. workers to fill vacancies.
The H-2A Temporary Agricultural Program allows agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring non-immigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature. Employment is of a seasonal nature when it is tied to a certain time of year by an event or pattern, such as a short annual growing cycle and requires labor levels above what is necessary for ongoing operations. Employment is of temporary nature when the employer’s need to fill the position with a temporary worker will, except in extraordinary circumstances, last no longer that one year.
The H-2B Temporary Non-agricultural Program permits employers who meet the program requirements to hire non-immigrant workers to temporarily come to the U.S. and perform non-agricultural services or labor based on the employer’s temporary need. The employer applicant must establish that its need for non-agricultural services or labor is temporary in nature, regardless of whether the underlying job is permanent or temporary.
Temporary need must be established as one of the following:
With the exception of a one-time occurrence need, which can last up to three years, temporary need will not be approved for longer than nine months.
H-2B Requirements
In order to issue an H-2B certification to an employer, the U.S. Department of Labor must determine that:
To participate in the H-2B program, an applicant must:
The employer’s job opportunity must be:
allows agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring non-immigrant foreign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature.
